What is a Discussion Group?

Subscribers "post" (i.e. Send) a message to a central email address. The message is then distributed to the email addresses of all subscribers, including the sender. You receive them in your email inbox next time you get messages from your email server. If you "Reply To" the message, it will be posted to the central email address and distributed to all subscribers, including yourself and the sender of the original note. This particular discussion group is dedicated to Kentucky Camp, an early 1900s mining camp in the Santa Rita Mountains in Southern Arizona. Any discussion involving the camp's history, rehabilitation or upcoming events is encouraged.

Discussion groups are not live-action "chat rooms". "Conversations" proceed at a leisurely pace, often over a period of days or weeks. You can unsubscribe at any time (instructions are at the bottom of every distributed message).

Since it's free, it's advertising supported. But it's is not too bad. The web page is worse than emails. Some discussion groups are huge affairs. Our discussion group is not listed in directories, and members must be approved by the moderator. (Currently Sandy Doumas) Only members can post messages. This should keep it under control.

How to Join

You can fully participate in the discussions by just using your regular email address. From your email address, send any note to: FriendsofKentuckyCamp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you have a Yahoo sign-on, or are willing to get one, either use as directed above (email will go to whatever email you send the note from), OR go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FriendsofKentuckyCamp/ Sign in to Yahoo and join the group (email will go to your Yahoo email, or you can direct it to your regular email).

Once the moderator approves your subscription (it may take a few days), you will receive a welcome note. It will tell you how to post. Maintain your own subscription, especially when you change email addresses.

If you are having trouble, contact Mark Doumas at doumas56 at DON'TINCLUDETHIS gmail.com. He can send you an email invitation, to which you "Reply", then you're in. This method seems to have the best success rate!

You have several delivery options for your subscription. You can receive any note as an individual email. Or you can have all messages posted in a day consolidated into one big email (daily digest). That way you receive only one email message per day, at most, but you won't be quite as up-to-the-minute informed. Or you can change your delivery option to "No email" when you are on vacation. I can do it for you if you don't have a Yahoo sign-on.

As more people get signed up, the more completely the group can replace any email distribution lists that have been used in the past. Since people maintain their own subscriptions to the group, we should have many fewer slip-ups where someone is left out or sent things they don't want.

Special Features for Members with Yahoo Sign-ons

You can access the group through your email, or through the Yahoo Groups web site, or both. If you use your email only, you don't have to put up with as much advertising, and you don't really have to learn anything new. But there are some nice features to the web site. If you're interested, read on.

The Yahoo Groups web site for FKC is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FriendsofKentuckyCamp/

Most links on the homepage are not active until you sign on to Yahoo (click on "Sign In"). A sign-on is free, and includes email, but they do collect some information. You may want to check out their privacy policy.

Once you are signed in, join the FKC group (Click the "Join this Group" button). Once joined, these are the nice features you now have access to:

• You can see the email addresses of the other members and send messages to them directly.
• You can see messages that were posted before you became a member or while you were away.
• You can elect to receive NO email from the group at your email address and view the messages only from the web site. Don't forget to check on us once in a while!
• You can see all messages on a web page, rather than having to keep track of them in email mailboxes.
• You can change your membership options yourself. I can do it for you if you prefer.
• You can access the discussion group from any computer attached to the Internet.
• You can post photos to the site.

Suggestions

1. Remove the note to which you are replying from your note. Most email editors automatically quote the original note when you hit the "Reply" key, so you'll have to remember to delete it. Otherwise, the notes get very unwieldy, with each note in a "thread" getting longer and longer. Keep continuity of the "thread" by using the subject line.
2. BE POLITE!! This includes NOT using all caps, like I just did, except for occasional emphasis. It's hard to read, and is the electronic equivalent of shouting.
3. Read your notes over before you send them, and keep in mind that others cannot see your body language. (You might use your spell checker, too.) Try not to jump to conclusions when you read other people's notes--they may have accidentally come across harsher than they intended.
4. If you use some sort of automatic reply system when you are on vacation, make sure to unsubscribe or change your delivery options to "No Email" until you get back. If you forget, you can quickly fill everyone's mailbox with hundreds of automatic replies.
5. Try to be brief. At the very least, try to be concise. However, don't be so brief that you come across nasty. Social niceties are not "extras". They become even more necessary without face-to-face contact.
6. Maintain your own subscription. If you change email addresses, unsubscribe under your old address and subscribe under your new one.
7. If you recommend the group to someone, send me an email at doumas at DON'TINCLUDETHIS mindspring.com to explain that you are vouching for this person.
8. Feel free to let people know about the group if they have genuine interest in Kentucky Camp. This could be a great recruiting tool for FKC.
9. Don't send notes that have nothing to do with Kentucky Camp. Some latitude is allowed if the note concerns southern Arizona history, I suppose, but don't abuse the discussion list or you will be booted!
10. Only open attachments that the email note mentions specifically as being attached. Viruses are often attachments that are appended unbeknownst to the sender.
11. If you append an attachment, SAY SO in the email note, so that people know it was intentional.
12. Install and keep your antivirus software up-to-date.  Since we do allow attachments on our group, and viruses are often hidden in attachments, there is always the chance that someone will unwittingly pass a virus out to the group.  Protect yourself!